You can't run forever [Mostly closed, please ask before commenting]

[staturity]

After responding to the post on the omnicomm Cassie spent several minutes just shaking, waiting for another response that didn't come. Then she started for her room, at first walking but then running. She was crying before she even got there and the moment she stepped in the room she slammed the door close and leaned back against it, slowly sliding down until she was huddled with her legs pressed against her body.

It was too familiar. A desperate call over the omnicomms- something she herself had done when she was trapped on the Helmacron ship. No one even knew she was there and being tortured. Just like no one had known that this person and someone else was...

It was too much. She'd tried so hard not to think about what had happened. But now she knew it was happening to someone else she couldn't- she just couldn't...

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[vision-ya.livejournal.com]

A significant amount of that hard-to-track time had passed before Jonas went to check Cassie's room. They had not had any luck tracking the signal, and eventually whoever it was had stopped responding. Jonas could only hope that they would have better luck the next time the person made contact.

"[Cassie?]" he said, tapping his knuckles against the door. "Are you in here?]"

[staturity]

Cassie sniffled and did her best to wipe the tears from her eyes. "Y-yeah." Her voice was shaky and it was obvious she had been crying. "Did you find anything?"

[vision-ya.livejournal.com]

"[Nothing concrete yet, I am afraid,]" Jonas said. "[May I come in?]"

[staturity]

"Figured." She took a deep breath and stood up. "Yeah. Door's open." Not that he needed it to be.

[vision-ya.livejournal.com]

Just because he could pass through Cassie's door did not mean that he ought to or should. He opened the door like a person who could not become intangible at will and reached out to take her into his arms.

"[We will find them, Cassie,]" he promised. And he truly hoped that he was not lying.

[staturity]

Cassie pressed close against him. She buried her face in his shoulder before finally turning so she could speak. "I just- It's happening again." Not to her but to someone.

The emotions and memories she'd tried to seal off came flowing over her again and again. Replaying nonstop in her mind.

[vision-ya.livejournal.com]

Jonas stroked her hair, pressing a kiss to the fuzz growing on her scalp.

"[I know,]" he whispered, gently steering her over to the bed so that the two of them could sit on something more comfortable than the floor. "[I am sorry.]"

[staturity]

Cassie was on autopilot and wasn't hard to guide at all.

Had Jonas said something? She was pretty sure he just said something but she hadn't caught it.

It was so confusing. She was back in the Helmacron ship being tortured and then she was here with Jonas. What was wrong with her? She wasn't the one getting tortured right now. Someone else was and she was making this all about her. How self absorbed was she?

Cassie kept holding onto Jonas. He was the only thing anchoring her at the moment or possibly ever.

[vision-ya.livejournal.com]

"[Cassie, are you all right?]" Jonas asked, cupping her chin in his hand. While he was as worried as anyone else about the situation, Cassie seemed to be taking it especially hard -- not without good reason, of course, but...

Was she going to sessions with one of the therapists on board for what had happened at the hands of the Helmacrons?

[staturity]

"...Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." Except her voice was shaking in a way that seemed to say "no, no I'm not."

[vision-ya.livejournal.com]

"[It is all right to say 'no',]" Jonas said, stroking her cheek with his thumb. "[It will not make me love or respect you any less.]"

[staturity]

Cassie took a deep breath and looked away.

"Well, I'm not being tortured or held against my will. So yeah, yeah I am fine. I don't have any reason not to be." She didn't sound as flippant as she was aiming before but the self disgust shone through.

[vision-ya.livejournal.com]

"[Not now, but you were,]" Jonas said. "[No one expects you to just 'get over' that, least of all me. You should not feel bad for having flashbacks.]"

He leaned forward to rest his forehead against Cassie's. "[I love you. What you are feeling right now is not wrong.]"

[staturity]

"It feels like it should be." Cassie mumbled. "I just want to forget what happened but it's not so easy."

[vision-ya.livejournal.com]

Jonas slowly rubbed circles on her back. "[Can you tell me which of the therapists that you are speaking to?]" he asked. "[I want to help you, but I am not entirely certain how to go about doing so properly.]"

[staturity]

Cassie was silent for much too long.

"Well..."

[vision-ya.livejournal.com]

Jonas pressed his lips together in a thin line, closing his eyes for a moment.

"[Is there one of them you would prefer not to speak to? I can set up the appointment.]"

Or rather, he would be setting up the appointment. He had not wanted to crowd her space, but if she was not going to do what she needed to take care of herself, he had no problem stepping in and helping her.